Death toll rises in south Indian temple fire

More than 80 people were killed on Sunday in a massive blaze sparked by fireworks at a temple in southern India, reports said.

The blaze began when fireworks that were being used to celebrate the start of the local Hindu new year ignited other fireworks being stored in a temple complex in the Indian state of Kerala. Thousands had gathered at the temple site to mark their holiday, reports said. At least 84 people were killed in the fire, a police official told the Associated Press.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that he was on his way to Kerala, and that arrangements were being made to move the critically injured via helicopter. He called the fire "heart-rending & shocking beyond words."

"My thoughts are with families of the deceased & prayers with the injured," Modi tweeted.

Fire at temple in Kollam is heart-rending & shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with families of the deceased & prayers with the injured.

Officials have said the temple was not supposed to be holding a fireworks display, and that investigations are underway. "There was no permission to even store the fireworks," Kerala's Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said, Reuters reported.